I Am Legend

[MikeVic]

Saw this in the theatres on Friday. Nothing great, but not horrible. Pretty slow. I wouldn't say it's worth going to the theatre for. There's some religion stuff thrown in at the end for who knows what reason.

[JS19]

I agree 100%. It was entertaining, but nothing close to what I heard it was supposed to be.

[TroyF]

I'm looking forward to this. The book was fantastic. It threw in some religion stuff in it as well. I'm sure they made a lot of changes from the book, but I can live with it in this case. There are a lot of different ways you could go with it.

As far as moving slow, it really needs to move slow IMHO. The makeup of the story is a slow one. That's the one single thing that would have pissed me off, so I'm glad they paced it right.

[RomaGoth]

I will wait until I can rent it from Neflix. Of course, with 3 little kids I haven't seen a movie in a theatre in about 4 years......

[MikeVic]

The religious stuff would've made sense to me if they spent any time at all before the end in actually exploring it. It just shows up, and then disappears. Really weird.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

The religious stuff would've made sense to me if they spent any time at all before the end in actually exploring it. It just shows up, and then disappears. Really weird.

There are hints earlier in the movie with posters on walls and things like that. I'm guessing the reason it wasn't more than hints was because the main character didn't believe it so it didn't really fit as a stronger presence. With a movie of this setting, I'd be surprised if it didn't come out at some point.

[CamEdwards]

I'm fairly sure that most of the posters here are intelligent enough NOT to take a small kid to this movie, but when I went to see this yesterday I ended up near a kid who was 8 or so who literally cried out for her mommy during a couple of the scarier parts.

I thought it was a decent movie, though depressing as all hell, but it's pretty psychologically intense for a PG-13.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by CamEdwards

I'm fairly sure that most of the posters here are intelligent enough NOT to take a small kid to this movie, but when I went to see this yesterday I ended up near a kid who was 8 or so who literally cried out for her mommy during a couple of the scarier parts.

I thought it was a decent movie, though depressing as all hell, but it's pretty psychologically intense for a PG-13.

I am always surprised at the stupid things people do. The ones who bring their 6 year old to a Hellraiser movie are the same ones that let their kids play inside the "broken" refrigerator on the front porch.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by CamEdwards

I'm fairly sure that most of the posters here are intelligent enough NOT to take a small kid to this movie, but when I went to see this yesterday I ended up near a kid who was 8 or so who literally cried out for her mommy during a couple of the scarier parts.

I thought it was a decent movie, though depressing as all hell, but it's pretty psychologically intense for a PG-13.

I'm not sure if this is bad parenting or just lazy parenting, but either way it is pretty sad. This movie scared the crap out of me, so I can't imagine what it would do to an 8-year old. Parents deserve some fun too, but find a sitter. Was it at least a time of day appropriate for a kid that age to still be up, or was it a later show?

[flere-imsaho]

When we saw the Bourne Supremacy, there were three young women who had brought a total of 4 kids, none of whom could have been over the age of 8. And that was a relatively violent movie.

[Neon_Chaos]

Was the ending similar to the book's?

[Anthony]

this movie was great. a lot scarier than i thought it'd be. pacing was great - any movie with essentially one character will feel slow. didn't know this was based on a book, seems like a topic i would've loved enjoyed reading on. i highly recommend this one.

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

this movie was great. a lot scarier than i thought it'd be. pacing was great - any movie with essentially one character will feel slow. didn't know this was based on a book, seems like a topic i would've loved enjoyed reading on. i highly recommend this one.

I believe that this is the 3rd or 4th movie based on the book.

[TroyF]

Yup. Author is Richard Matheson. The book I have with it has 11 stories in it total. I enjoyed all of them, but I Am Legend was by far my favorite.

[Arles]

I've read the book and seen the original Charlton Heston version (The Omega Man) - http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/omega_man/

I'd be interested in hearing what people think on how both movies compare. The Omega Man was a bit campy given it was made in the 70s, but it was a solid movie.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Arles

The Omega Man was a bit campy given it was made in the 70s, but it was a solid movie.

One of my all-time favorites, which sort of has me hesitating about seeing this one.

[Lathum]

My wife and I both loved it. I can't remember the last time I was so stressed out at a movie. We were tense virtualy the whole time.

I think it was neccesary for it to be slow at times to illustrate the mundainess of his existence.

As far as the CGI goes, it 2007, thats just the way things are now.

[BrianD]

The main reason that I thought the pacing was good was the fact that it never felt slow to me. Whatever the speed, it always felt appropriate. And the fact that tension was always there probably helped keep things from feeling slow. I also liked that they didn't try to force too much music into the movie. Nothing is as creepy as silence.

[Swaggs]

Great book--I'm looking forward to seeing the movie next weekend.

As for the kids in theatres, the worst I have have ever experienced was two young ladies that had a 3 or 4 year old at The Grudge. The Grudge was not a good movie, but it had some terrifying visuals.

[Neon_Chaos]

Ugh. Kids in theaters. I just hate kids in theaters regardless. If he's not old enough to learn to shut up when watching a movie, then you shouldn't bring him to a theater. Go rent him a DVD, and he can ask you all his ridiculous questions and give you his loud comments in the privacy of your own home.

*end rant*

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by Neon_Chaos

Ugh. Kids in theaters. I just hate kids in theaters regardless. If he's not old enough to learn to shut up when watching a movie, then you shouldn't bring him to a theater. Go rent him a DVD, and he can ask you all his ridiculous questions and give you his loud comments in the privacy of your own home.

*end rant*

I have 3 children but I have to agree with you. My 6 year old son talks constantly during movies and it drives me apeshit. Not only that, he feels the need to replay every event of the movie right after it happens. So here is how a typical movie will play out for us:

Begin movie (Cars, for example);
Character says/does something funny (at least in the kid's viewpoint);
My son replays that scene out loud, thus missing the next 3 minutes of the movie;
My son then asks what just happened;
I explain it to him, thus we BOTH miss the next 3 minutes of the movie;
I am forced to replay the last 10 minutes of the movie;
Rinse and repeat all of the above.

It drives me nuts. I usually try and escape the entire episode by finding something else to do during movie time in my house. It doesn't always work though...

[CamEdwards]

This was a 2:10 p.m. showing. The thing I can't figure out is that even when she cried "Mommy", I never saw an adult comfort her. She apparently wanted to go see the movie and either sat by herself or parents dropped her off. As sad as I was for her, I was not going to be the creepy adult who said anything to her. Sorry kid, you're on your own.

My attitude, btw, when it comes to PG-13 movies is that either Elaine or I screen them first before we will let Andrew (who's 7) watch them. I'd say he's been able to watch a couple of them this year, but the vast majority of them are simply not appropriate for someone his age.

[Lathum]

Was the theater at a Mall or shopping center?

And they left an 8 year old alone in a theater?

Should have called the cops on them.

[Karlifornia]

Seeing the comments here makes me want to see this. I like movies that are willing to slow it down and actually build to something.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Seeing the comments here makes me want to see this. I like movies that are willing to slow it down and actually build to something.

As much as I liked the movie, there were certainly a few things brought up in the movie that I would have liked to see expanded on. I realize that there is only so much you can do over the course of a movie, but there were some developments that I would have loved to see explained. It makes me want to read the book to see what I missed.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by BrianD

As much as I liked the movie, there were certainly a few things brought up in the movie that I would have liked to see expanded on. I realize that there is only so much you can do over the course of a movie, but there were some developments that I would have loved to see explained. It makes me want to read the book to see what I missed.

I agree here. I want to read the book, as the idea was interesting. In the movie though, the most entertaining parts were when Will Smith acted like Will Smith with some goofy/funny stuff.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by BrianD

As much as I liked the movie, there were certainly a few things brought up in the movie that I would have liked to see expanded on. I realize that there is only so much you can do over the course of a movie, but there were some developments that I would have loved to see explained. It makes me want to read the book to see what I missed.

Did the movie suck you in? That's what I'm hoping for.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I agree here. I want to read the book, as the idea was interesting. In the movie though, the most entertaining parts were when Will Smith acted like Will Smith with some goofy/funny stuff.

I couldn't disagree more.

I was so glad there wasn't to much of that. IMO it would have ruined an outstanding performance by Smith

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I couldn't disagree more.

I was so glad there wasn't to much of that. IMO it would have ruined an outstanding performance by Smith

I agree with your disagreeing. There were some parts where Will Smith was obviously Will Smith, but there were other parts where he was just a good character. I thought he was excellent in the movie.

[MikeVic]

It did seem out of place compared to the whole movie, but the rest of the movie was boring without that. IMO of course.

Does the book explain why that one guy was so powerful and smart compared to the rest of the bad guys?

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

Did the movie suck you in? That's what I'm hoping for.

It sucked me in completely. I jumped in a number of places, and I got rather emotional in a number of places. I thought it was worth the money to see on a big screen.

[JonInMiddleGA]

While out doing some Christmas shopping this afternoon, I picked up a copy of The Omega Man for $12.

I blame this thread.

[Schmidty]

As a long-time fan of the book, I despised this movie. They changed so much, it's a disgrace that they called it "I Am Legend".

Blech.

[Easy Mac]

I'm another one who will stay away from the movie just because I don't want to mess with my love for the book. The book really isn't very long, but it does such a beautiful job describing everything and feeling the main character's pain. It really got the whole "last man on earth" despair in a psychological instead of zombie-horror way. Unfortunately, the psychology of it just can't translate as well into a visual medium, at least without a ton of voiceover.

But honestly, I never read fiction, but heard about the movie, so I read the book in 1 evening. Then hearing the differences, decided that I just couldn't let the visions the book gave me get knocked out of my head.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Originally Posted by RomaGoth

I am always surprised at the stupid things people do. The ones who bring their 6 year old to a Hellraiser movie are the same ones that let their kids play inside the "broken" refrigerator on the front porch.

I think it should be illegal to allow people to take a kid of a certain age to certain films. You got to love hearing babies cry during scenes that are extremely violent... That can't be healthy for a kid's future to see these things at such a young age, and too many people are too damn selfish to think of their own children so long as they aren't inconvenienced.

[IMetTrentGreen]

I agree with Schmidty, about the name at least. I think it's pretty silly to call it I Am Legend when they took the entire reason the book was called that out.

[st.cronin]

The book is really tremendous, I am sure the movie will be disappointing, but the woman in my world wants to see it...

[Arles]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

While out doing some Christmas shopping this afternoon, I picked up a copy of The Omega Man for $12.

I blame this thread.

I wasn't quite that bold, but I did use my free rental at BB on it.

[Lathum]

How long is the book?

[Chief Rum]

Enough reason to see it, IMO...

Spoiler

1. The terrifying hunt for his dog in the dark. I was so tense during that scene.
2. The dog dying.
3. Smith's well-played descent into madness before the woman and b oy show up.

IMO, all that alone makes the movie worth it to see, at least.

[JonInMiddleGA]

CR -- it's the 2nd point in your spoiler that really has me less enthusiastic about the movie. That's just not something I enjoy in film.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

CR -- it's the 2nd point in your spoiler that really has me less enthusiastic about the movie. That's just not something I enjoy in film.

Spoiler

IT was horrible. My wife was borderline sobbing. I think CR doesn't mean it in a twisted malicous way, more of a moving way.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

CR -- it's the 2nd point in your spoiler that really has me less enthusiastic about the movie. That's just not something I enjoy in film.

Same here. Although I don't generally see scary/suspenseful movies in general, when I went ahead and read the spoilers for the movie (to see how it compared to the book) and read that section, I knew I wouldn't be able to watch the movie.

[Anthony]

why does it have to compare to the book? why can't you just go see a good movie? sometimes people on the internet can be total nerds. just take the movie at face-value. I, Robot wasn't anything like the book, but it's still a movie i watch on DVD cuz it's a good action flick. if the movie was completely like the book why would you need to go see it anyway?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Lathum -- yeah, I didn't think CR meant it in any wrong way or anything, that's just not something I enjoy on film. Plenty of sadness in my life already, no sense paying for more, y'know.

[revrew]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

The religious stuff would've made sense to me if they spent any time at all before the end in actually exploring it. It just shows up, and then disappears. Really weird.

After reading this comment, I went and watched the movie. I discovered several instances where intentional forshadowing set us up for the movie's religious conclusion.

Spoiler

1. The butterfly poster at the beginning that says, rather prominently, "God still loves us."
2. The Time magazine cover on the fridge, which asks, "Is (Will Smith's character, was it Nevin?) the Savior?"
3. The wife praying for him and his safety before they leave on the helicopter.
4. With sunlight streaming in the window as he awakens, a crucifix is silouhetted in the window. Not just a cross hanging on the wall (which could easily be a casual set decoration), but a crucifix propped up against the window (a clearly intentional prop).
5. Anna's reference to the survivors camp, naming it Bethel - which in Hebrew means "House of God"
6. The little girl, Marley, twice showing her Dad the butterfly, for no apparent reason.

Through the end, once Anna gives us the "God told me" speech, the allegorical references continued:
1. Most notably, when she asks him "What are you doing?", he answers "Listening (to God)."
2. His line "The cure is in the blood"
3. Her voiceover at the end about Him giving his life to save others, a common Messianic theme in hero movies, but here he's made into a literary Christ figure again.

Now, I don't know how much of that was the author (haven't read it), or how much was even intentional (Messianic themes, like I mentioned, are common in hero movies), but it was more than just a fleeting or pop-up element. It was there throughout if you're looking for it.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Spoiler

IT was horrible. My wife was borderline sobbing. I think CR doesn't mean it in a twisted malicous way, more of a moving way.

Yup, Lathum hit it on the head. It's actually quite horrible, but it is very moving and sad. It doesn't always have to be happy emotional to be meanigful and powerful (in fact, the most powerful moments usually aren't).

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

why does it have to compare to the book? why can't you just go see a good movie? sometimes people on the internet can be total nerds. just take the movie at face-value. I, Robot wasn't anything like the book, but it's still a movie i watch on DVD cuz it's a good action flick. if the movie was completely like the book why would you need to go see it anyway?

I get what you are saying, but then why use the title of the story. "Last Man on Earth" and "Omega Man" both took from the story and made it their own?

Your argument on why you we see the movie? How bout the Lord of the Ring series?

Was the movie enjoyable, I thought so. Especially the scenes in the dark, absolutely frightening and tense.

The problem I have is that they wrapped it up too much...too fast.

Spoiler

so it's been three years and now someone finally comes to seek him out? Right when he's about to commit suicide no less.

Neville goes on to explain that the affected are de-evolving...yet the alpha-vamp seems to be doing the opposite.

The dog death was heart wrenching...so he can capture a vampire, drug it for the entire movie, and he couldn't do that for Sam?!?

I'm unsure of "Last Man" but in the book and "Omega Man", the vampires/ghouls already know where Neville lives and try to raid and cajole him out of his house. In the novella, women try to tempt him out, which given his situation along with the isolation increases his paranoia and madness.

Now I knew Neville was going to die, but in the movies it's always been Christlike, in the novella, it's a suicide/execution. The story is about the perception of who is really the monster...in the movies, it's always been about being the savior with the cure (finding the cure). What I really liked about "Omega Man" is that Charlton Heston is actually going and saving the counter-culture, Mr NRA himself, dating a black woman, and leading the hippie kids to building a new future...in Will Smith's "I am Legend", Smith is just the be all, end all hero, "my work is not yet done". I think it's frustrating to learn that Smith in his grief and obsession has blotted out that there are survivors like him, the start of the movie seems to indicate he is the "only" one who is not infected and thus the last man alive.

The only new twist is reggae music...now that doesn't mean it was entertaining, like I said, the darkness scenes were scary, but the movie seems to feed on lulls and then blasting you with loud music.

I would have also liked to have seen a little more of Neville being stuck in at night, and perhaps looking out into the night...I think it would have been better served to keep the vamps hidden with brief glimpses in the darkness until say the very end.

Finally, being a biologist, I would hope that the blood sample was kept in refridgeration somehow from the time it left NYC to Vermont, I would think that would greatly affect potency.

By the way, the Dark Knight looks good...

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

I get what you are saying, but then why use the title of the story. "Last Man on Earth" and "Omega Man" both took from the story and made it their own?

Your argument on why you we see the movie? How bout the Lord of the Ring series?

Was the movie enjoyable, I thought so. Especially the scenes in the dark, absolutely frightening and tense.

The problem I have is that they wrapped it up too much...too fast.

Spoiler

so it's been three years and now someone finally comes to seek him out? Right when he's about to commit suicide no less.

Neville goes on to explain that the affected are de-evolving...yet the alpha-vamp seems to be doing the opposite.

The dog death was heart wrenching...so he can capture a vampire, drug it for the entire movie, and he couldn't do that for Sam?!?

I'm unsure of "Last Man" but in the book and "Omega Man", the vampires/ghouls already know where Neville lives and try to raid and cajole him out of his house. In the novella, women try to tempt him out, which given his situation along with the isolation increases his paranoia and madness.

Now I knew Neville was going to die, but in the movies it's always been Christlike, in the novella, it's a suicide/execution. The story is about the perception of who is really the monster...in the movies, it's always been about being the savior with the cure (finding the cure). What I really liked about "Omega Man" is that Charlton Heston is actually going and saving the counter-culture, Mr NRA himself, dating a black woman, and leading the hippie kids to building a new future...in Will Smith's "I am Legend", Smith is just the be all, end all hero, "my work is not yet done". I think it's frustrating to learn that Smith in his grief and obsession has blotted out that there are survivors like him, the start of the movie seems to indicate he is the "only" one who is not infected and thus the last man alive.

The only new twist is reggae music...now that doesn't mean it was entertaining, like I said, the darkness scenes were scary, but the movie seems to feed on lulls and then blasting you with loud music.

I would have also liked to have seen a little more of Neville being stuck in at night, and perhaps looking out into the night...I think it would have been better served to keep the vamps hidden with brief glimpses in the darkness until say the very end.

Finally, being a biologist, I would hope that the blood sample was kept in refridgeration somehow from the time it left NYC to Vermont, I would think that would greatly affect potency.

By the way, the Dark Knight looks good...

Spoiler

You can have a slow movie not be boring by making the scenes interesting in some way. I just found this movie not doing enough to keep me interested in the many slow parts.

I had a big issue with the leader bad guy. How was he so smart all of a sudden? And he could resist the sunlight a bit? He set up that trap for Neville, trained dogs to go after him, found out about that mannequin that Neville would talk to when renting movies... it was odd.

I'm remembering a couple of scenes I liked though. The part where the dogs were waiting for the two dark areas to be joined by the sun going down was cool. Like a countdown to an attack, but without a timer. I also thought it was freaky when Neville was in the dark warehouse and saw that group of vamps all huddled for a brief second.

I also thought it was really stupid for Neville to not be using a UV light on his gun! He had access to UV light, and UV light hurt the monsters... wouldn't you want that with you JUST in case you go in a dark area??

[Anthony]

i'm not doing spoiler tags. this is a thread about a movie, assume people will be talking about it. in fact, skip over my posts in this thread to be safe.

Spoiler

the alpha-vampire was able to be exposed to the light because neville pointed out they fully devolved from humanity. they had no drive to preserve their life. neville mentioned that was the last trace of human character in them, and it was now gone.